Quote:
Originally Posted by pilotbob
It is desirable that we should have a supply of good books; we cannot have such a supply unless men of letters are liberally remunerated; and the least objectionable way of remunerating them is by means of copyright.
-- Thomas Macaulay, 1841
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The quote bothers me... not because I don't think authors should get paid; they should, and handsomely. I just don't think they'll stop writing if their great grandchildren aren't still getting paid for that same book.
When that quote was written, copyright had just been extended from 14 years, renewable once, to 28 years, renewable once by another 14 years.
Now, it's anything younger than Mickey Mouse, since Disney just keeps buying extensions.
How does having some corporation retaining rights for 75 years after the author is dead encourage that author to keep writing good books?